Meal-prepping mum feeds family-of-three for just $15 a week

A thrifty Queensland mum has revealed her incredible homemade food prep hack that feeds her entire family for just $15 a week.

CJ Flack spends the first Sunday of each month cooking up a storm in the kitchen of her Brisbane home.

In just four hours, the mum-of-two whips up an entire month’s worth of breakfast and lunch for herself and her daughter Kitty, 12, and stepson Cooper, seven – and she does it for the bargain price of just $60 in total, or $15 for per week.

Photo: Caters News

The innovative 32-year-old, who doesn’t prepare meals for her partner, reveals that she first began food prepping two years ago when she finally got sick of rushing around to prepare her kids’ breakfast and lunches every single day from scratch.

She likes to change it up every month with different delicious recipes for breakfast, lunches and snacks – which include yummy treats such as vegemite scrolls, mini pizzas, savoury muffins, sausage rolls, tuna crackers, veggie meatballs, and fruit jelly cups.

CJ’s jaw-dropping photos of her inspirational food prep have made waves online, inspiring parents across the world and racking up thousands of likes and comments.

“It used to be such a stress trying to figure out what the kids were going to have for lunch every single day,” she says.

Photo: Caters News

“I just got tired of putting their lunches together each night. It became such a chore. One day I just had this idea of making their lunches a week in advance, to save time and effort.

“I went to the supermarket and bought little containers, and while cooking the Sunday roast, I made a week’s worth of lunches.

“Eventually I decided I could save even more time if I made a fortnight or a month’s worth of lunches in advance.”

CJ quickly realised that she could also start prepping breakfasts in advance to save even more time and picked up a second fridge to start storing all the food.

“I’ll make a month’s worth of breakfast and lunches for the kids and me, and it’s made life so much easier,” she says.

“I just need four hours on a Sunday, and I find it really relaxing.

“It also enables me to make sure they’re eating healthy without the horrid normal lunch snacks they sell at the shops.”

Most of the meals she preps go straight into the freezer to stay fresh, and CJ says she loves getting her kids’ help with the whole process.

“The kids love it,” she explains, “I try to involve them as much as possible in the planning and prepping process, so that I will know they will eat it.”

“Some of my friends think I’m a little crazy, but I love cooking and baking so it’s enjoyable for me to do.

“It’s worked really well for us, and saved us lots of time and money in the long run.”